


Big Brother Ed

by Makasaurus



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Just some family stuff!, Not a ship fic, Parents are dead / gone, edward being a good brother, ed’s doing his best, tiny!alphonse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-22
Packaged: 2019-09-11 21:31:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16860646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Makasaurus/pseuds/Makasaurus
Summary: (Alternate Universe)Edward Elric is sick. He’s been sick from the beginning, ever since he was born.The sickness took his arm, and so it was replaced. The sickness took his leg, and that was replaced too.But the sickness also took one thing that Edward couldn’t replace, no matter how hard he tried.His mother.





	1. Thunderbolts and Lightning

Edward Elric is sick. He’s been sick from the beginning, ever since he was born.  
The sickness took his arm, and so it was replaced. The sickness took his leg, and that was replaced too.

But the sickness also took one thing that Edward couldn’t replace, no matter how hard he tried.

His mother.

Dark thoughts dwell in the shadows, so it was one night that Ed found himself lying awake in his bed, listening to the rain pitter-patter on the roof and going over the facts to keep himself sane.

His name was Edward Elric. He was seventeen years old. His younger brother, Alphonse, was six years old. The sickness had taken their mother two years prior, and their father had disappeared before Alphonse was even born.

He made the bare minimum off of selling toys created through alchemy, and used the money to pay for food, clothing and school for his younger brother. They had very little in the way of luxuries, and sometimes had to go without a meal due to customers being few, or if Edward was feeling particularly weak that day.

A familiar dusty cough interrupted his thoughts. His throat seemed to always be itchy, and coughing was an automated action at this point in his life. A clap of thunder sounded loud and proud over the house, followed quickly by a flash of lightning that pierced the curtains for a millisecond.

Ed tried to ignore it in favour of sleep, turning over to bury his face in one of his pillows. His automail arm draped over the plush mass lazily, metal sinking into the encased pile of feathers as if dearly hoping that, if it pressed hard enough, he might actually _feel_ the coolness of the fabric.

It felt as though he had only been out for a few minutes before tiny hands were pressing at his left shoulder, his tearfully whispered name urging him awake. With a hesitant grumble, Ed turned his head, eyes squinting blearily into the darkness to try and catch a glimpse of his assailant.

“Brother,” came the voice again, and he could just make out a small face and big, round brown eyes. “I can’t sleep. The thunder’s too scary.”

“Hmm?” Edward mumbled, followed by the smallest of coughs. “What do you want me to do about it? Chase the storm away?”

“No- I just. . .” Alphonse’s sentence trailed off, and his eyes dropped to stare at the floor.

A recollection struck a chord in Edward’s mind; whenever he used to have nightmares, his mother would tuck him into bed beside her to help him feel safer. He hadn’t noticed, but perhaps she had done the same for Al?

“You. . . Wanna have a sleepover?”  
An abashed nod, and Edward held back a huff of amusement, at the realisation that he had probably done the exact same thing to their mom many hundreds of nights ago. “Alright, I guess you can stay.”

Shuffling further into the middle of his bed, Ed peeled back the covers to allow Alphonse to clamber into the warm depths of the duvet. Once secure, he reached over to drape the sheets and blankets back into place, then flipped over to his other side, settling back down for sleep. “Goodnight.”

As if to punctuate his sentence, another roll of thunder shook the night. Ed heard a squeak, then felt a tiny body press up against the small of his back, a face hidden in the base of his neck and fists curling into the loose material of his shirt.

“Alphonse, it’s just sound. It can’t hurt you. Go to sleep, okay?”

“. . . Okay,” came the quiet reply, but the presence at his back stayed.

“Goodnight, brother.”  
“Goodnight, Al.”


	2. The Toymaker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edward Elric is sick. He’s been sick from the beginning, ever since he was born.  
> The sickness took his arm, and so it was replaced. The sickness took his leg, and that was replaced too.
> 
> But the sickness also took one thing that Edward couldn’t replace, no matter how hard he tried.
> 
> His mother.
> 
> Today, we follow a day in the life of the brothers, one playing outside, one working to support him.

It’s cloudy outside today, remnants from the storm the night before.

Out in the yard plays a six year old child - He’s blonde, with golden eyes, and he holds a painted wooden shield close to his chest with his left arm as he parries against a stuffed dummy with a matching wooden sword in his right.

As a woman comes up the path behind him, he leaps forward to slash the weapon across the dummy’s torso, a cry of ecstatic victory escaping him as the fabric tears.

A quiet chuckle causes the boy to whip around, embarrassed. There stands a woman he hasn’t seen before, tall and pale and rather stern-looking, though she smiles upon him and he feels rather safe in her presence. She wears a white buttoned-up dress over dark green pants and slip-on sandals. Her box-braided hair is tied back into a bundled ponytail.

She doesn’t stop to talk, and the young boy watches as she enters his home into what was formerly the foyer, currently the toy store.

A soft bell jingles, announcing her entrance to whoever occupies the store. The sound alerts a dozing teenager at the front counter of the store, who sits up upon hearing the sound and brushes golden-blonde hair away from the same eyes she had seen in the boy outside. 

“Ah- Hello, can I uh- Ahem, can I help you today?”  
He stumbles over his words as a coughing fit tries to force its way up from his chest, and she almost pities him. He’s obviously sick, the bags under his eyes and the messy bun that keeps his long hair off his shoulders betray that fact. What kind of parent would force their child to work in these conditions, she ponders.

Gazing around the warmly-lit store, she can see shelves of toys - perfectly shaped wooden animals, pull toys on wheels and strings, stuffed bears and dogs and dolls of all shapes and sizes.

“Hello. I’m looking for the Toymaker. . . Am I in the right place?”  
“That’s right, best in the southeast if I do say so myself.”

Taken aback, the woman takes a moment to scan the boy more closely. Surely _he_ couldn’t be the same alchemist. . . ?

With a chuckle, he proves her doubts wrong. “Yeah, that’s me. I’ve seen a look like that a dozen times. What were you expecting? No, don’t tell me - some old geezer drooling through his dentures who can barely see straight, let alone hear what you’re asking of him. I’ve heard it all before.”

“No no, I knew that you were younger. . .” She takes a moment to play it up, putting a hand on her hip and narrowing her eyes. “I just expected you to be more, well, bigger.”

The boy’s knuckles crack and turn white as his left hand curls into a fist, and she snickers. “So, that’s true too. You hate being called small.”

“Did you come here to buy something, or just to mock me?”  
“No, no, I’m sorry. I did travel here to make a purchase.”

With a sigh, he lays his fist out flat against the table, his other hand joining it by its side, and for the first time she can see that his right arm is automail. Yeesh. . . This kid’s been through hell, for someone so young. Beneath his hands sits a beautifully carved transmutation circle, cut into the dark oak wood of the desk.  
“So, will that be for something in the store, or a custom item?”

She thinks it over for a moment or so, gazes around the shop once again, but nothing quite catches her eye. “A custom, if it’s not too much trouble.”  
“Sure thing. What were you thinking of?”  
“Perhaps. . . A bird of some sort. Something cute, if anything comes to mind. . .?”  
“How about a duck?”  
“. . . Yes. A duck sounds perfect.”

With a nod, the boy leans down to pull open a drawer on his desk. Materials are placed on the table - a lump of pale wood, a few pots of powdered paints. As he retrieves his materials, he asks her what colour she wishes for it to be.

“Blue and gold, and maybe a touch of green. I don’t mind where.”

A small jug of water placed alongside the other ingredients, and the Toymaker begins his work.

The soft, blue-white glow of alchemy alerts the child outside, and he rushes into the shop to spectate. He never tires of seeing the method through which his brother creates his wares.

From wood, paint, water and energy, a small palm-sized duck is formed, settling gently on the surface of the desk. As the light dies down, the duck’s true colours are plain to see - a baby-blue body, adorned with a golden beak and green eyes which seem to shine with some sort of life.

It’s perfect.

As the teen wraps the item up in tissue paper for her, his younger brother bouncing on his knee, he asks the woman for her name. “So I can write it on the tag. Everything I make is unique - that way, if you lose it before you reach home, it can find its way back to you.”

“Could I have your name, first?”

The request is a little odd, but he obliges. “Sure. My name is Edward Elric, Toymaker. How about you?”

“Izumi Curtis.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to all who have viewed the first chapter and this one, and to all of those who thought highly enough of my work to leave behind a kudos! I appreciate you all, and every kudos or comment to my name gives me the motivation to keep writing my series!
> 
> You can find me on the FMA Amino as 🌟• Alphonse Elric (*´꒳`*) • 🌟
> 
> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Love,  
> \- Makasaurus


	3. Her Smile

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edward Elric is sick. He’s been sick from the beginning, ever since he was born.  
> The sickness took his arm, and so it was replaced. The sickness took his leg, and that was replaced too.
> 
> But the sickness also took one thing that Edward couldn’t replace, no matter how hard he tried.
> 
> His mother.
> 
> Today, we take a peek into a rainy day with our two brothers.

The next day holds another crop of rain, though it’s gentler than the previous stormy night. 

Alphonse pulls on his boots and coat, but when he steps out onto the porch the rain only pours down harder. So, still with his heart set on splashing in puddles, he sits in the doorway to wait.

The door clicks open behind him, and he tries to look up, only to find his head enveloped in the yellow hood of his coat before he can see. “Wah-!”

A familiar chuckle as he flicks his hood back down again, and he watches while his big brother takes a seat on the ground beside him. “Too rainy to play, huh?”

“Mhm,” Al nods, a tuft of hair falling down to his eyes. “I’m waiting for the rain to stop.”

“Good idea.” Edward shifts in his position, pulling his knees up to his chest and resting his arms across them. Al notes that he seems to be feeling better - colder and wetter days always seemed to help. So, they were both thankful for the rain.

Staring out into the garden, Alphonse spots the torn dummy, still in ruins from yesterday’s battle, and feels a spike of guilt in his stomach. Ed had made it for him, and he felt bad about breaking it, but he couldn’t exactly leave it to ruin in the garden. It was sure to be noticed at some point.

“Brother. . .” He began, focusing on cracks in the porch where droplets were beginning to pool. “I, um- I ripped the dummy, yesterday. . . M’sorry-“

He fidgeted with the buttons on his coat, expecting a scolding, but was surprised when his brother laughed. 

“The one out the front? You’re getting better at fighting it, huh? We’ll have to fix it up.”

And for the second surprise that day, Edward got up and walked into the pouring rain.

“Brother! Wait, what about an umbrella-!” Al jumped up, glancing around the porch. Snatching up a large, blue umbrella - which seemed about the size of Alphonse himself, he raced after his older brother.

The rain drummed out a harsh beat against the canvas cover as he raced down the path, boots squelching through mud and splashing through pools of water. Ed was stooped by the dummy, so Al powered through the blustery droplets to meet him.

A dripping Edward meekly accepted the umbrella, the soggy dummy tucked up under his arm as the pair of them made their way back up the path beneath the cover.

Alphonse fetched towels and came back to find his brother sketching a circle of chalk out on the porch, the dummy slowly accumulating a puddle beside him. A towel tossed at his brother’s head, Al sat down before the circle with curiosity in his eyes.  
“You’re gonna fix it with alchemy?”

“Yep. It’ll be just like new in no time. You won’t even see a seam!”

Al’s brow furrowed a little, but he kept quiet. Now that Ed was getting better at alchemy, he was using it for everything. He would have liked to see the dummy with a few battle scars - though, that thought diminished when blue light began to glow like a halo around the circle and the dummy within it.

With a puff of steam, it was as guaranteed; new again, and even dry and a little warm. Ed handed the dummy over, feeling a fuzzy feeling build up in his chest as his little brother beamed, hugging the plush body to his chest.

A smile like that was enough to make the rain clouds dissipate, and bring the sunshine forward, Edward thought. It was a smile he hadn’t seen for a few years.

It was her smile that Alphonse had inherited.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiya again! Thank you for reading the third chapter!
> 
> Apologies for this chapter being a little shorter than the others, but I figured some content is better than no content, and I hope you enjoyed it regardless!
> 
> And thank you to everyone who leaves kudos and comments on this work - you all keep me writing! <3
> 
> -Maka

**Author's Note:**

> This was my first time writing for FMA, as I’m new in the fandom, so please be gentle!!
> 
> You can find me on the FMA Amino as 🌟• Alphonse Elric (*´꒳`*) • 🌟
> 
> (PS. No, this will not be a shipping fic! Just some good old family feels.)
> 
> Thanks for reading!


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